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1 Butanol as Fuel – View From the Field NREL March 11, 2010 Sam Nejame Promotum
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Butanol as Fuel – View From the Field
NRELMarch 11, 2010
Sam Nejame
Promotum
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Agenda • What is Butanol? • Brief History• ABE Process• Today’s Butanol From Petroleum• The Future of Butanol Fuels• Questions
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What is Butanol?
• Family of 4 Carbon Alcohols• Most common forms are normal butanol (n-buoh) and iso-butanol (i-buoh)• n-buoh primarily used to make butyl acrylates for coatings and adhesives• Both n-buoh and iso-buoh have good fuel properties
Butanol Physical & Fuel Properties
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Physical Property i-butanol n-butanol Ethanol
Density at 20°C (g/cm³) 0.802 0.810 0.794
Boiling Point at 1 atm (⁰C) 108 118 78Water Solubility at 20⁰C (g/100mL water) 8.0 7.7 Miscible
Net Heat of Combustion (BTU/gal) 95,000 93,000 80,000
R+M/2 103.5 87 112
Blend RVP (psi at 100 F)⁰ 1 5.0 4.3 18-22
Promotum, Gevo
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Summary Comparison Butanol to Ethanol Fuel
• Higher energy content• Less hydrophilic• More compatible w/oil infrastructure• More compatible w/installed base of autos • Reduces blend vapor pressure• Less corrosive • Iso-butanol works well with gasoline• n-butanol works well with diesel
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Butanol a Brief History
• Acetone, Butanol, Ethanol (ABE) Process • First Industrial Fermentation Commercialized (1918)• Clostridium acetobutylicum bacteria• Acetone for Cordite• Later butanol for butyl paint & coatings (1930’s)• RAF planes flew on butanol during WWII • Petroleum based production becomes cheaper (1950s)
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ABE Fermentation Reaction Kinetics
Ramey & Yang
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• Toxicity to the organism• Low product concentrations• Low yield
Problems w/Traditional ABE Process
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Butanol Production From Petroleum (1950s-Present)
• Production of Butanol by oxo Alcohol Process• Players & Market Share• US & Global Manufacturing Capacity• Price history of butanol, ethanol, gasoline
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Butanol Production From the oxo Process
Metex
• Global market for nbuoh is 3.8 M mtons/Yr• Global iso-buoh is ~ 0.4 M mtons/Yr
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Market Share of Leading n-Butanol Producers
Metex
ButanolCash Cost ($ / mton)
Cumulative Capacity (K mtons)Source: Tetra Vitae, SRI; company analysisAssumptions: $70 oil, range of feedstock cost
Global Butanol Industry Capacity - Facility Cost Curve
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DOMESTIC DEMANDexports
Domestic Butanol Production
Butanol Cash Cost
($ / mt)
Cumulative Capacity (K mtons)Source: Tetra Vitae, SRI; company analysisAssumptions: $70 Oil
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14Chemical Strategies, Inc.
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The Future of Bio-Butanol Fuels
“Our goal is to build a supply chain from lignocellulose to butanol.”
Tony Hayward, CEO British Petroleum
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Summary Bio-Butanol Process Goals
• Power & Price of Biotechnology Tools... systems biology, pathway engineering...
• Over expression butanol• Suppression of other pathways• Organism tolerance• Improving yield• Increasing productivity (rate)• Flexible feedstocks
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Status Domestic Butanol Companies Company Bug Bug
StrategyMolecule Fermentation
ProcessSeparation Strategy
Development Status
Gevo Yeast GMO UCLA Valine metabolism
iso-buoh Semi batch vacuum flash in situ removal followed by distillation trains
2010 Operating pilot in St. Johns, MO. 2011 Commercial
Cobalt Biofuels Clostridium Non GMO strain reduced etoh and acetone
n-buoh for blending w/gasoline, diesel, jet
Continuous modified ABE Fermentation
vapor compression distillation
2010 pilot 10-35k gpy 2011 demo 2-5m gpy 2012 commercial
Tetra Vitae Clostridium beijerinckii
Non GMO selected for reduced etoh production
n-buoh and acetone 2:1
Semi batch "AB" Fermentation
Carbon dioxide stripping continuous in situ removal followed by distillation trains
2009 300 liter bench 2010 10,000 liter pilot
Butyl Fuel Clostridiums Aceto & tyro
GMO & mutant strain
n-buoh Continuous two stage dual path anaerobic fermentation
stripping following immobilized cell bioreactors
Unknown
Syngas Biofuels Energy
Fermentation of Syngas
GMO n-buoh Thermochemical catalyst
NA Unknown
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Status International Butanol Companies Company Bug Bug
StrategyMolecule Fermentation
ProcessSeparation Strategy
Development Status
Butamax (DuPont/BP)
1.Clostridium 2.E.Coli
GMOs iso-buoh Semi batch continuous in situ removal followed by distillation trains
2010 Salt End Hull, UK 2013 Commercial Additional Feedstocks 2013+
Green Biologics (UK)
Clostridium. Mixed populations
GMOs high tolerance (4%)
n-buoh Continuous fermentation
In situ removal unknown.
Building demo in India. Consulting w/Chinese firms
Metex (FR) "Well known bacteria“
GMOs n-buoh Unkown In situ removal unknown.
Unknown
Butalco (Switzerland)
Yeast GMOs unclear Unkown In situ removal unknown.
Unknown
China Clostridium Currently selected strain. Migrating to GMOs
n-buoh Migrating from traditional ABE Fermentation.
May include in situ removal
2010 100MM gpy traditional ABE. 201X migration beyond ABE. Plans to add 350 MM gpy new capacity.
19Green Biologics
Bio-Butanol Projecting the 3rd Wave
20Promotum
Bio Iso-Butanol Fuel Commercialization Forecast
---$6bn chemicals-------------------------------------------------
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Thoughts on Butanol Adoption
1 Pricing/Economics have to work
Markets for butanol, petroleum and sugar feedstocks change daily.
2 Avoid Food v. Fuel Round II Butanol is a better alcohol, but for now corn is still the feedstock
3 Tax credits, biorefinery grants, loan guarantees
Need to be extended to butanol. Government and private investment are necc.
4 Enlist/Co-exist w/current ethanol producers
Infighting will slow production & adoption. Oil companies like BP (Butamax) may not be politically correct market driver.
5 Autos/Engine makers must approve
May be catalytic converter issues. Manufacturer's warrantees essential.
6 Consumer education Higher energy content means a gallon isn't a gallon. Odor maybe a problem.
7 Technology improvements must continue
Anything beyond ethanol is new territory at this scale
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Acknowledgements
• Jim Evangelow Chemical Strategies • Gorden Cheng ChemaLogic• Jay Kouba Tetra Vitae• Hans Blachek University of Illinois-Urbana• Adam Schubert Butamax• Ron Bray SRI Consulting
